A Series: Shadows and Faces
by Jonathan Jas
Summary: A series of Shadows and Faces. Shadows follow and mimic... Faces look and deceive. T rating for mild violence and creepiness.
1. Silhouette

**Warning: This is a creepy story. If you're easily scared, go find another story. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Slender. It's a scary game, so of course I would ****_never_**** want to get involved with it.**

* * *

"But what do you think it is?" my twin sister asked.

"I don't know, but it has to be real, right? I mean, both of us see it," I replied, still shaking a little from the sight of that... _thing_.

"I guess it has to be real, but what is it? It's really scaring me." She tightly holds me in an embrace.

"I know, it scared me, too."

"Can't you two just stop your wild imaginations," my eldest brother, John, had commanded, "Monsters aren't real."

"But we saw it! And it keeps writing notes for us!" My twin looked as if she was about to slap John.

"John!" my sister, Alice, called, "Where do we keep the rags again?"

"In the left cabinet in the laundry room," John called back.

"We're completely fine," I started, "We don't need any cold rags. It's not like we have fevers or something."

"Well, something has to make you two sane again," my brother, Dan, commented.

"Shut up! We know what we saw!" My twin was up in a rage again.

"Fine, fine. Say that this thing _is_ real," John told, "How's come we can't see it?" My sister and I didn't answer. We knew that he wouldn't believe us.

"Hey, uh," I started, "I think that we both just need some rest."

"That's reasonable," Alice panted, after running up the stairs.

"Geez, you need to work out, Alice," Dan teased.

"Shut up!"

"Both of you shut up," John commanded, "And you two twins just get some rest."

"Okay," the two of us replied.

Everyone left the room except for my twin and myself. We looked at each other, still frightened by the weeks that we've seen this thing.

This thing had been haunting the two of us for three weeks now, ever since our parents left on a business trip. It's not very harmful... physically, but it damaged our sanity. It's a very creepy thing to look at, as it's just a... shadow. It has no physical features, except for it's black-as-night figure. It's been leaving notes around for my sister and I, but once we read a note, it somehow gets misplaced.

So far, we've seen notes like this:

* * *

Hello, children. I am a faceless cousin of someone you may be familiar of. My cousin is "Slenderman", as you may call him. Now, I wish not to harm you, as I am too bored to do so. I would only like to play a game. Kids like to play games, correct? Well then, let it begin. The game is to find out who in this house is... me. I disguise myself as one of your siblings. Find out who it is...

Hello again. It seems that you have no idea who to suspect yet. All of your siblings seem to reject the idea that something like me lives here. In that case, I will give you several hints. I cannot leave the property of this household. That means if someone can reach the street or another house, they are not me. Also, if you see me and do not see someone's face while I am physically near you, then that person could be me. It's hard to explain. Of course, I do try to block out everyone's face when I am near you. It makes the game more fun.

It's nice to see that one of you has figured out that John is not me. He ran out into the street after seeing you, girl, almost get hit by a car. Of course, now Dan questions your sanity. This game may be over soon. Hopefully. Have fun.

* * *

It's spoken to us a few times, but too quietly that we couldn't hear it. We guessed that it's a girl, by the sound of it's voice.

We haven't seen anyone's faces when it's around; we haven't even seen each others' faces. Only when it disappears do we see our siblings' faces. And apparently they can't see it, even when it's right in front of them.

* * *

We sat down on my bed.

"I'm not going to sleep until that thing is gone," my twin stated.

"I don't feel like sleeping, either," I mumbled, still upset by the thought of the shadow thing.

"At least we know it's not John. After all, he went outside to get me off the street."

"Yes, but it could still be Alice or Dan."

"Well, I guess that I can run out again."

"Not until John goes to get groceries, because he could try to go out and the whole action would be pointless."

"Hm, that's true." Just as she finished talking, we heard the front door open, then close.

We went downstairs to find Dan and Alice in the living room near the front door.

"John went out," Dan told us. And that's when we both dashed out of the door.

Dan was near us, so he quickly caught my arm. Alice tried to run after the other twin, but only caught up after they both had crossed the street.

It must be Dan. Once everyone was inside, my sister and I looked at each other, determined to end this game.

We went into the kitchen and found a note.

'You probably think that you know by now. Well then, go on and kill me. It's been a fun game, and I could use some rest.'

My sister grabbed the butcher knife, looking crazy. She dashed into the living room, and I heard screaming. I walked in to see Dan dead and Alice trying to hold back my twin.

"You're a fool, Anna," I said to my 'twin'. Both girls looked at me directly at my face. They then screamed.


	2. Disease

"Are you sure there weren't any bats upstairs?" Cecil started getting worried.

"Yes, I'm sure. The window is broken, though, so birds might get in," Joseph answered nonchalantly.

"It can't be just birds; I'm sure that something heavy has to be up there," Cody commented, twice as worried as Cecil.

"Oh, man... Look, monsters aren't real, okay? Just try to forget that movie we watched yesterday," Cecil said, trying to comfort my scared brother.

"What about you, Sarah, what do you think?" Joseph asked, curious as to what I, the youngest, would say.

"I'd say it's something that we can't see. I mean, there's plenty of light rays that humans don't see. Take UV rays for example; bees and birds can see that, but we can't." Everyone wasn't very surprised that I had said something relatively intelligent, since I do that all the time. I'd actually say that I'm smarted than Cody, and he's two years older than me.

After some silence as everyone finished their breakfast, I started, "Of course, it could also be something that we are able to see, but we refuse to believe it."

"What do you mean by that?" Joseph and Cecil smirked at each other because they spoke in unison (like they always do; it must be a twin thing).

"I mean, it could be something like... well, take some Swedish folklore for example; there were things that people refused to see, but those things ended up giving them the Bubonic Plague. They refused to see a giant raven with holes in its wings appear at night. Just look up 'Night Raven' or 'Nattravnen'."

"Oh, you and your hobbies," Cecil commented, sounding quite sarcastic for some reason.

After that, everyone decided to do their own things. Cecil and Joseph started watching TV, Cody went to his room upstairs, and I started playing a game on my phone. I got a new personal record with candy-crushing, and I decided to quit after only a few minutes. The faint banging could still be heard in the attic and my two eldest brothers were still watching TV, making some jokes now and again.

It was when the commercials started that we heard Cody yell. I yelled up to see if he was okay, and he yelled back for us to get up the stairs. Cecil and Joseph got up from their seats and ran upstairs while I started to ascend at a walking pace on the stairs. Once I was up, I saw what was wrong... Cody was coughing up blood, and a good amount, too.

"My God, Cody," Cecil started, "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm freakin' okay?!" Cody replied, "I'm coughing up blood, dang it!"

"Does it hurt?"

"Kind of."

"How did this happen?" I questioned.

"I don't know. I was just playing on my computer when I coughed." His breath was a bit wheezy.

"Sarah, get me a phone," Joseph commanded.

"Are you going to call mom about this?" I asked, handing him my phone.

"No, I have to call Doctor Woodruff first. Cecil, why don't you call mom?"

"Okay," Cecil responded, "Oh, geez, I hope you'll be okay, Cody." Cody started coughing up more blood uncontrollably as an answer.

"It might be asthma," I stated, "It runs in the family, after all."

"Sure, but I haven't had an asthma attack involving blood before," Joseph commented.

The doctor arrived, and he confirmed my statement; Cody had a horrible asthma attack. Doctor Woodruff said that he'll need to keep an asthma inhaler on his person from now on, because he has one of the worst cases of asthma or something. Cecil said that our mother had been notified and told that it was a bad case of asthma; she started driving back to the house. Eventually, Doctor Woodruff left and Joseph and I tried to explain how asthma would affect Cody's life from now on.

The thing is, I felt twice as worried as Cody was when we talked about the attic that morning, because the banging stopped and Cody was still wheezing a little. Of course, at the time I thought it was just paranoia.

Well, days went by and we didn't hear anything in the attic, although Joseph did find feathers in there. We concluded it was birds after all, and Mom questioned us further about the attic. She also questioned about Cody; he had been fine for the past few days after the incident, but Mother was still worried about him.

Another week passed, and Cody started coughing again. This time, we couldn't stop it.

"I think we need to call an ambulance!" my mother had exclaimed.

"No," Cody coughed, "No need to over-" He coughed blood into his shirt. "Overreact."

"Overreact?!" Cecil yelled, "She and I have right to overreact! You're coughing blood up and on your shirt!"

"Enough yelling," Joseph commanded, trying to calm everyone, "I'll take him to Doctor Woodruff." He paused. "And somebody take care of those birds in the attic; they're back."

"I'll take care of that," I volunteered.

"I will, too," Cecil said, "I don't have anything else useful to do."

"Okay," Joseph started, "Cody, come on."

"I'm going with you two," Mom declared.

"Okay." With that, the three left, leaving me and Cecil with the attic.

We got some brooms to fend off any birds and got under the trapdoor. "I've always thought attics were creepy," Cecil had stated.

"Me, too," I replied. We opened the trapdoor and sprung out the ladder-stairs thing. Cecil did the 'ladies first' on me, so I went up with him following behind me. The attic was relatively empty except for some tubs full of old clothing and some boxes we used when we first moved in. Oh, and the bird.

It was a blackish-purple, completely beautiful. It had smooth feathers that looked more like groomed fur. It was facing the tubs with clothing. It didn't make a sound, but it gracefully twirled around. Then, it cawed.

It lifted it wings and flew toward us. Cecil fell to the ground for some reason, and I tried to fend off the bird with my broom. It went back to its spot by the tubs and I crouched down to Cecil. He looked like he was out of breath and he had just had a heart attack.

"Are you okay, Cecil?" I asked him.

"Oh," he groaned, "I feel like I just got hit by a train."

"Cecil, what happened?"

"I don't know, I think that that bird overwhelmed me or something." He tried to stand, only to collapse to the floor.

"It's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of here." I looked to where the bird had flown to, only to see that a single feather was left in that spot.

"I hope you can... carry me, Sarah, because... I can't stand. Not even with your support." He spoke in between pants.

"Really, you're that worn out?"

"I can barely... talk."

"Okay, Cecil, I just hope you're not too heavy." I got him in my arms and started down the ladder-stairs. On the way down, I caught a glimpse of an old newspaper in the corner of the attic; it had a bird on it with holes in its wings... it looked familiar. Well, I set Cecil down on the floor and pushed back the ladder and trapdoor.

"You're a bit heavy, Cecil," I stated.

"And you're a bit strong, Sarah," he complimented, looking up at me.

"Oh, thanks. Ah, and uh... hey, I saw something up there in the corner."

"I saw it, too. A newspaper, right?"

"Yeah, I remember that mom put it there when we first moved in."

"Of course you remember that all that time ago, Sarah. Hm, you're a bright kid."

"Um, thanks. Anyways, I think I saw..." I paused to think. _What was it?_ I thought, _Hm... the Night Raven, right!_ "I think I saw the Night Raven on that newspaper."

"You mean that myth thing you talked about this morning?"

"Yeah."

"Huh, well, I guess you were right about that being in the attic." He sounded sarcastic.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's in the attic, on paper."

"Oh, I see. I never said that it was in the attic, though, I just talked about after talking about the attic."

"Hm. Right. Well, I feel a little better. Help me up."

"Okay." I grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

"Just got to say, I think you're too old for Hello Kitty."

"What? What are you talking abou-" I instantly slapped him once I figured out what he was speaking of. "You're lucky you're playing on the other side of the game, Cecil, or else I would've killed you."

"Ouch... well, I'm glad that I'm like what I'm like and I like what I like. And of course I get you, Joseph and I are step brothers. Anyways, sorry about that."

"Sure." We went downstairs and Cecil grabbed a glass of water. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I feel better. I still don't get why I fell, though." I started to think, then began asking questions.

"Did you see anything strange about the bird's wings?"

"No... well, I feel like something was off, but I don't know."

"Well, I remember holes in the wings. Do you?"

"Yes! That's it! Wait... that's... that's the raven thing you talked about, right?"

"Yeah..." We stared at each other in disbelief. Then, we heard the phone ring.

"I'll get that," Cecil quickly said. He went to the phone and picked it up. after a few seconds, he exclaimed, "Sarah, it's horrible! Cody's dead!"

"How?" I asked.

"He died of blood loss... he started getting a bloody nose and... they said it was caused by a disease."

"A disease?" I started to ponder. _A disease... the Night Raven is patron of disease..._

"This is horrible!"

"Yes, but it might be worse... I think that the raven upstairs had something to do with this. The Night Raven is the patron of disease, you see..."

"Wait! Joseph started coughing up blood, Sarah. They think it's the same kind of case."

"What?" Just as I said that, Cecil coughed into his hand. Blood dripped from his palm.

"Sarah... if anyone comes across the Night Raven, what happens?"

"Well," I slowly started, realizing everything, "Men get sick and die quickly, but women aren't affected. Sometimes, there are even side effects."

"Side effects?" He coughed again, keeping his head low.

"Well, turning into your own shadow, becoming a myling, rising from your grave... and other curses."

"I... I thi-" He stopped talking and lifted his head. "Semeh... mmh mmhth ehs sdehehm duhhehe!"

"You're... mouth is staying... together?" I trembled.

"Mmh!"

"Cecil!"

* * *

That was the last moment I had with my step-brother until he turned. The moment he did, he attacked me... and I killed him with my broom. Mother never came back, and there was a news story about the hospital nearby. Everybody there got sick and died... some bodies were never found. Only female bodies were found.

* * *

I'm making a series out of "Shadows and Faces".

I probably shouldn't creep myself out at 1:00 AM in the morning, though. Also, you should know that I add commentary at the bottom of chapters of my stories sometimes.

Well, have a good day, and I hope you enjoyed my story.

-Jas


	3. Deutsch, German

Years after the Silhouette Murder and Diseased Night Raven incidents...

* * *

"Der mann ist-" He was cut off by the tall man's appearance.

"Ernst," the girl seemed afraid, "Hilfe!" The tall man grabbed her, keeping a grip so devastating that it caused the girl's humerus bone to break in half.

"Nein!" The boy chased after the two. "Ich will Sie toten! Ich will Sie toten, Nachtmann! Grossmann!" The tall man sneered something that was not in German.

"You should listen to your parents, child!" And with that, he and the girl disappeared into the night.

* * *

"Sarah, another one of those German kids was lost last night," Anna told me, "The ones in the forest village."

"I think it'll be Schlankwald or the Grossmann," I suspected.

"A boy survived; he said that it was a tall, distorted man with the strangest face and it couldn't leap into the sunlight. Fits the Tall Man's description."

"Indeed. The Tall Man it is. We'll hunt tomorrow for the child."

"And if we encounter the monster?"

"Don't mistake him for the Suited Man; he only attacks children, not elder people. Of course, if we do encounter him, run."

"Right."

We finished lunch and Anna went out to buy bolt ammunition for our crossbows at the black market. I started reading the article about the boy who survived. Apparently his name was Ernst Junker and the girl who was lost was his sister, Sophia Junker. Ernst confessed of robbing from a gunsmith and said that he wanted to kill the Tall Man. He also confessed that he hadn't listened to his parents who said that he should stay inside at night. In the end, he ran away to search for his sister. He wasn't found.

After a while, Anna returned home near sundown.

"I asked around the village," Alice informed, "And I found out where in the forest the girl was taken."

"Okay," I replied. Anna went into her room to probably take off her equipment. Once she returned to the kitchen, I asked, being cautious, "Hey, Anna, how's Alice?"

"Hm," she slowly hummed, "Last I heard, she was still insane." She paused. "How's Joseph?"

"He's fine. The infection is slowly overtaking him, though. I fear I may have to put an end to his misery sometime soon."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"And I'm sorry to hear about your sister."

"Hm." She walked to the refrigerator humming 'Dango Daikazoku'. "Music is nice, you know?"

"Yeah, sure." I watched as Anna continued to hum while grabbing some bread.

"Did you eat anything?"

"Yes, I ate some bread and cheese."

"Why didn't you eat anything else?"

"I hadn't felt like it."

"Well, you might not have enough energy for the hunt."

"Did you eat anything?" She noticed me trying to change the subject, but obliged.

"Yes," she responded, "I went to that one seafood restaurant."

"Okay, then." We were silent, then we seemed to notice the time.

"If we want to start the search in the early morning, we should go to sleep now."

"Don't say those words. Say 'get to sleep'." She giggled slightly, probably thinking that I was too paranoid. "And yes, we should get some sleep."

"Okay. Have a good night."

"You, too." With that, we went to our rooms. I made sure my knife was under my pillow, like I always do. I laid down on my bed and slowly drifted into sleep. Soon, I was nearly asleep and only heard the crickets outside.

* * *

I awoke with a dizzy feeling. Once I remembered that I had been confronted by the Suited Man only three months prior, I ignored the feeling. When I entered the living room, I saw that Anna was just about ready to go; she only had to grab her hat.

"Hey," she greeted, "I'm ready to go. You should get your stuff ready."

"You forgot your hat," I mumbled, yawning.

"Oh, you're right. Well, then..." She went off to her room. I proceeded to the bathroom.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was perfectly fine; it was still a nice, long ebony with the streak of white down the left of my hair that reminded me of Cecil. I've tried to dye my hair, but the memory refuses for me to do so.

I went into my room and grabbed my equipment. I hooked my crossbow on my right side on top of the quiver; I grabbed my knife and sheath and put that on my left side; lastly, I slipped on my leather steel-tipped boots. I was ready just like that.

I entered the living room again, seeing Anna in her full getup: red baseball cap, crossbow and bayonet in hand, quiver on her side.

I motioned for us to go through the door. We walked out of the door and saw tall trees several leagues away, and fields of grass split by a road in front of us. We entered the car with Anna driving and me in the passenger seat. She drove for the route to the forest.

After about a half-hour of driving, Anna pulled the car to a stop at a treeline. She told me that this was where she was directed to find the Junker kids. We both got out of the car and readied our crossbows. We started for the forest.

After minutes that seemed like hours passed by, Anna finally found something. Well, actually more like something found her. It was a girl that had a bleeding left arm.

"Wo ist es?" she questioned, looking afraid.

"Mir ware es lieber, wenn wir uns auf Englisch unterhalten konnten," I told the girl. It meant 'I would prefer it if we would talk in English'.

"Yes," the girl started, "Then where is it?"

"It?" Anna asked.

"Der Grossman. The Tall Man."

"I don't see it anywhere," I responded.

"Where is my Ernst?"

"He went looking for you," Anna answered.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sarah, this is Alice," I told her.

"Why did it let me go?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Anna looked a bit peeved.

"Ich bin tot."

"What?"

"She said," I began, a bit creeped out, "She said... that she's not alive. Du bist tot?" That meant 'are you dead?'.

"Ja," she answered. That meant 'yes'.

"So she's a ghost?" Anna asked, looking pale.

"Did the Tall Man kill you?" I asked the girl, not paying attention to Anna.

"Ja," she answered once again, "There it is." Out of nowhere, it appeared.

"Du bist Deutsch?" it slurred, staring at us, distorted face burning through the very fabric of space.

"No, Irish and English," I told it, then grabbed Anna and began to run. After only seconds of running, however, we came across a boy with a rifle in hand.

"Bewegen!" the boy commanded, "Move!" And so Anna and I moved, and the boy shot.

"You can't kill it like that!" Anna yelled.

"No, but I can give another some peace." I looked to where he shot. The girl was on the forest floor, her stomach bleeding. I heard the boy mutter under his breath, "Forgive me, Sophia."

"Well," I started, "That's that, but where's the Tall Man?" I looked around the woods, but only saw the three of us and the girl on the ground. I saw Anna doing equally the same.

"I do not know," the boy said, "But we have to leave here." Just as he said that, the Tall Man appeared behind the boy and ripped his head off of his body.

"Hah," the Tall Man chuckled, "Children should listen to their mother and father, should they not? Hm, Anna? Sarah?"

"How do you know our names?" Anna asked, looking quite terrified and insane.

"Oh, Alexis and Cody have told me about you two."

"My twin? But she's dead!"

"And my brother," I said, involving myself in the talk, "He's gone."

"No, no," it objected, "Alexis is simply an insane Faceless Shadow, and Cody the same. My brother, Slender, and cousin, Raven, have made sure of so."

"What do you want with us?" I tried my hardest not to shoot at the thing.

"Me? I want nothing. My brother and cousin? They want you yourselves."

"Screw this!" Anna intruded, "I say we kill this... thing!"

"And why? I only mean harm to children. And also, I mean good for you two, as I wish not for my brother and cousin to grow more powerful than me."

"Why would we believe you?!" Anna looked as if she had snapped.

"Because I am not the one who killed your parents, Dan, Cody, Cecil, Alexis, and others close to you. And I live here, in Germany, so it would be invalid if you said I had."

"Excuse me," I interrupted, "But you need a better explanation as to why we, humans and prey, would oblige to believe you, shadow and predator."

"You need not to believe me. Of course, I am only telling you to watch your back because my relatives are hunting you."

"And how far away are they," Anna told, bitter and emotionless.

"Perhaps they are here with us, listening, damning me for telling you this. Perhaps they are countries away, having a nice coffee or two and a little child's head on top. I do not know where they are, but I do know their intentions."

"Well, Mister Tall Man, I think this is enough chatter. We're leaving." With that, Anna grabbed my hand and we marched from the scene toward the car.

After a few meters, though, we saw villagers marching toward us. They had guns, tire irons, rakes, and other tools that could deem worthy of murder. After seeing this, Anna and I tried to slide away unnoticed. We did, and entered the car unscathed. I however, was exhausted. I felt rather hungry.

"What do you think will happen to those people?" Anna questioned me, looking a bit more calm.

"The children will die, and the adults will become insane," I answered her question, and we both shrugged it off as the correct prediction. We hadn't seemed affected by that matter, since we've already seen so much death. We also had more complicated things on our minds. She probably was thinking about what just happened, but I was thinking about our past; or rather, my past. When things first started with me killing Cecil.

Before I knew it, I was in bed, hair wet from a shower, and still thinking about the past. Anna sealed up the windows and doors just in case. I giggled to myself, because she was now the paranoid one.

It seemed that I was so exhausted, that I forgot to keep my knife under my pillow.

* * *

At the beginning of this story, the dialogue roughly translates to:

"The man is-"

"Ernst [boy's name], help!"

"No! I want to kill you! I want to kill you, Night Man! Tall Man!"

I would have done "I will kill you" but I don't know how to write future facts like that in German, only intentional statements. I only took a few months of studying German, so yeah.

Schlankwald means "Slim Forest" and Grossman means "Tall Man". Schlankwald is actually a poem (and very interesting; look it up) and the Grossmann (or Der Großmann) is a myth that originated from woodcuts quite a while ago (his story is interesting as well; look that up, too). NinjaCacti gave me the idea of doing Der Großmann, so thanks for that.

Alexis is Anna's twin, if you hadn't caught onto that. And, have you recalled the characters' names from the previous chapters? Anna, Alice, Dan (Silhouette)? Joseph, Sarah, Cecil, and Cody (Disease)? Yes? No? Maybe so? Okay.

-Jas


End file.
